Every Star in the Sky
by cayt-lynne
Summary: Dean is enjoying being an uncle.


**Every Star in the Sky**

Day Two…

Dean held his new niece in his arms, smiling down at her tiny pink face. Born only yesterday, she had tiny wrinkled hands that held tight to his finger. Dean was watching her for an hour so that Sam and Jess could have some time to be together and rest. One thing was for certain, she was not a quiet baby.

Dean continued to rock her while he walked in circles around the room. He wasn't a huge fan of kids, but he had to admit the little human was growing on him. He hummed a little, looking down at her tiny face. She looked so much like Sam did when he was born. Dean felt a wave of protectiveness for the little girl.

"So, Cassie," he started, but stopped when she started to fuss. He hummed again, rocking her a little more.

He continued to stare down at her, taking in her small nose and tiny mouth. She yawned and opened her eyes and two large blue eyes blinked up at him. There was a flash of light blue light in her pupils that made Dean freeze for a second. Then he smirked. He had heard from Sam that Cas had somehow transferred some of his grace to the little Winchester.

"Hey Jude…don't make it bad…" he started to sing softly. "Just take a sad song…and make it better."

He continued to sing as her eyes closed again and her little forehead unwrinkled. She was asleep.

"Don't worry, kid," he said. "I'm gonna take care of you."

Day 2075…

"Uncle Dean! Uncle Dean!" Cassie squealed as she ran towards him. He had been on a hunt for a couple of weeks and was just getting back to the bunker.

"Hey, Cassie!" he shouted, dropping his bags and throwing his arms wide, crouching down to her level. He could feel the smile spreading across his face without his even having to tell it to. Little Cassie leaped at him when she was close enough. He caught her and swung her around, both of them laughing. When he set her back down, he noticed for the first time that neither Sam nor Jessica was with her.

"Why are you out here alone?" She looked down, caught, and Dean was instantly suspicious. "Cassie, talk to me."

"I knew you were coming back and I wanted to say hi when you got here."

"Cassie," Dean sighed. "You can't just leave whenever you want, okay? It's not safe. Promise me you won't do it again."

"I promise."

"Good." He turned and picked up his bags and then led her back to the door. But while he was unlocking it, Cassie screamed behind him.

"Dean!"

He whipped around to see a demon closing in fast. He pushed Cassie behind him and pulled the demon blade out. He ran forward to meet it, not wanting it to get any closer to Cassie than it could. The blade sank deep into the chest of the demon. Yellow flashing light illuminated its skeleton and it let out a scream. Stepping back, Dean shielded Cassie from the gruesome sight. He could feel her trembling and grasping at his arm. When it was over, he looked down to see her looking up at him with wide eyes. Though frightened, she looked serious.

"It was a demon, right? I saw its eyes."

"Yes," Dean said slowly, "but, Cassie, you aren't supposed to know about any of that stuff."

"I…looked at some of the books in the library."

"Since when can you read?" Dean demanded.

"I taught myself last week. I'm slow, but I can do it."

"You're just like your dad." But he smiled and picked her up to carry her inside. "You shine brighter than every star in the sky."

Day 4480…

When Cassie got home from school, she stomped through the door, threw her backpack on the table and headed off towards her room.

"Hey, Cassie," Dean called as she stalked past him. "What's wrong?"

He got no answer except for her slamming her door shut behind her. He turned to look at Sam who stood there looking just as confused as Dean. He was frowning and talking on his phone, presumably to Jess, who was out on a job with Garth.

"I don't know what happened, Jess. She won't talk to me…Yeah, alright, I'll try. Be careful. I love you." He hung up, looked at Dean and sighed. "Look, man, I don't know what happened, so don't give me that look. You try talking to her if you want to."

"Alright. I will."

"Really?" Sam smirked. "You're going to talk to Cassie about feelings?"

Dean didn't answer that, just headed off towards Cassie's room with a muttered "bitch" in Sam's general direction. Sam chuckled and went to the kitchen to cook dinner.

"Cassie?" Dean knocked on her door. There was no answer. "Cassie, c'mon, open up."

When he still didn't get an answer, he turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open. Inside, the lights were off and it was quiet, except for the sound of muffled tears. Cassie lay on her bed, facedown. She didn't look up at Dean when he came in. He closed the door behind him and walked over to sit on the edge of her bed gingerly. He put a hand on the back of her head and smoothed her hair back. She still wouldn't look at him.

"Cassie. Talk to me." She mumbled something that he couldn't understand. "What was that?"

"Why are they so mean?"

"Who, Cassie?"

She rolled to the side to peek up at him through her wavy, dark brown hair. Her eyes were puffy and red. "My friends."

Dean sighed. "I don't know."

She started crying again, harder than before. Dean frowned and then leaned over to scoop her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shirt. Dean wrapped his arms around her and patted her back. He started out humming, which quickly changed to low singing.

"Hey Jude, don't make it bad…just take a sad song and make it better. Remember to let her into your heart…Then you can start to make it better…"

He could feel her breathing slowing down and her shoulders relaxing. He sat there and let her cry until she was done. When she had wiped her eyes and nose and was breathing regularly, Dean decided it was okay to start questioning her.

"You wanna tell me what happened?"

"Not really," she said. "But there is something I wanted to talk to you about."

Dean shifted, catching on to the change in her tone. "Alright."

"I think…there might be a ghost at my school."

"What?"

"In the music room, specifically."

"And…how would you know this?"

"There are cold spots. And electrical shortages. Missing or moved objects."

"Cassie."

"Alright, so I read your hunter's journal. And some of the old books in the library. I can recognize a ghost, Dean."

"Cassie, you're not supposed to know about that stuff."

"I know. But I want to be a hunter someday."

"Cas-"

"Don't start with me, Dean. So, are you gonna help me with this ghost or not?"

Day 6254…

Dean woke up to a screaming match happening down the hall. He put on some jeans and a shirt and headed out to see what all the commotion was about. He found Sam and Jessica and Castielle in the library, facing off. Sam and jess were on one side of the table and Cassie was on the other.

"I want to hunt! You can't keep me here forever."

"You won't be a hunter under this roof!"

"Then I'll leave!"

"Woah, woah, woah," Dean interrupted. "Let's not do anything hasty."

He stepped into the room and three heads snapped towards him. Sam and Jess glared at him but there was a flicker of hope in Cassie's expression. He winked at her and she gave him a tiny smile. He turned to face his brother.

"Sam, what's going on here?"

"Cassie found a job."

"A job?"

"A hunt."

"Oh."

"Tell her she can't go!" burst out Jessica. Dean glanced at her and then back at Sam.

"So what's the problem?"

"Dean," said Sam, in disbelief, "do you really have to ask? Look at how messed up our lives are! We've lost our parents, almost lost each other so many times, and Jess has almost died at least twice. I'm not going to let my daughter take that risk."

"Alright, then, I'll take her." He heard Cassie's gasp behind him.

"What?" yelled Sam and Jessica.

"I'll take her on the job. I'll keep her safe."

Sam stopped and watched Dean closely, searching his face. Jess, on the other hand, was not so calm.

"Sam, tell her that she can't go. Tell Dean he can't take her. Sam, please."

But Sam had already nodded and Dean was turning to face Cassie. "You ready, kid?"

She smiled at him. There was no need to tell her parents that this wasn't their first hunt together.


End file.
